A Harvey Weinstein “Casting Couch” Statue Makes Its Debut on Hollywood Boulevard Days Before the Oscars

Just days before the 2018 Academy Awards will hand out its little gold men, a life-size gilded statue of Harvey Weinstein has been erected on Hollywood Boulevard. It depicts the disgraced media titan sitting on a “casting couch,” wearing a silky robe and holding an Oscar, a scene reminiscent of so many of the allegations against him. “There’s so much about Hollywood that’s great and celebrated in the Oscars,” said Plastic Jesus, one of the Los Angeles–based street artists responsible for the statue, “but there’s also this underbelly of darkness within the industry that we often sweep under the carpet or ignore.”

Though Weinstein won’t be attending the Oscars, his presence will certainly be felt. The statue arrives with the news that the Weinstein Company, which earlier in the week stepped toward bankruptcy, has had most of its assets bought by a female-led investor group that also includes the billionaire Ron Burkle. Maria Contreras-Sweet—a former member of the Obama administration who is expected to be the head of the company’s new board—has said that the deal marks “a new vision that embodies the principles that we have stood by since we began this process last fall. . . . Those principles have never wavered and have always been to build a movie studio led by a board of directors made up of a majority of independent women, save about 150 jobs, protect the small businesses who are owed money, and create a victims’ compensation fund.” News of the deal comes just days before the Oscars and the end of a tumultuous 12 months—hopefully, to open a new chapter in Hollywood history.